Sunday, February 22, 2015

Non-partisan fact-check website Politifact.com takes President Obama's advice and fact-checks his claims about the economy as well as GOP predictions. Here is a summary:

The "economy kept growing." Official data on gross domestic product from the Commerce Department shows that the economy has been growing robustly in recent months.

The "stock market has more than doubled." On Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama took office, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 7,949.09. On Feb. 19, 2015, it stood at 17,985.77. That’s more than twice as much.

"Deficits are down by two-thirds." We recently checked Obama’s claim that we've seen "our deficits cut by two-thirds" and found it Mostly True.

"America is creating jobs faster than at any time since the last time a Democrat was president." We rated Obama’s claim True.

"Our manufacturers are creating jobs for the first time since the last time a Democrat was president." We rated that Mostly True.

"Health care inflation is running at the lowest rate in almost 50 years." We have reported that data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis that shows health care inflation, as of the end of 2013, was about 1 percent per year — the lowest since the early 1960s.

"Our deficits are falling faster than they have in 60 years." When Obama claimed that "our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years," we rated it True.

We examined the claim by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor that the health care law is "job killing" and rated it False.

In remarks from the Senate floor, newly elevated Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., suggested that his party’s takeover of Senate control "appears to coincide" with recent good economic news. We rate the statement False.

Quotes of Note

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